Partner of the Week
by Meruhen Wind
Summary: Partners of course, changed every schoolweek and didn't do much together, but Sasuke thought it was convenient that this Hyuuga girl was his partner, especially during Valentine's Week, even IF she was half-batty over Naruto of all people.
1. Day One

Author's Note: Did I say I could update sooner? I lied. Sorry 'bout that. This plot's been festering in my notebook like a sugary wound for ages, though, so here you go (finally, a Sasuhina non-oneshot!) Posted on New Year's Day because I'm a dork and forgot about it until I looked at my list of New Year's Resolutions. :P

Again, please excuse any OOC-ness or inconsistencies—it's been a long time since I've wandered into the Naruto fandom. :)

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke lived in a world full of pointless things.

Social interaction, dealing with idiotic adults, fangirls, compulsory education that insisted on teaching him what he, as a twelve-year-old prodigy and Avenger already knew—it was all pointless.

Today, however, was completely, utterly, almost revoltingly pointless.

Why? Simple—it was February the 13th.

February in and of itself was pointless—possibly the most pointless month ever. Not only was it the shortest month of the year, it was also the most annoying—it had no useful holidays and one loathsome one. February the 13th was also normally pointless because it only served as 24 more hours to fuel his female classmate's sick anticipations of the 14th—and whatever nauseatingly sweet Valentine's Day chocolate confections or confessions they would force upon him.

Today's February 13th was particularly pointless, however, because it happened to be the second Monday in February—the day Iruka insisted on assigning partners (and changing them every week afterwards) in a last-ditch effort to "inspire camaraderie and teamwork" among students before they graduated in early March. And although the concept of working together with anybody else, much less a _partner_ was the most pointless thing of all, Iruka insisted on it year after year.

At least his luck had held out for four years—he'd always ended up with relatively non-annoying partners like somewhat-creepy Shino or even the lazy Shikamaru (who at least knew how to keep their mouths shut.) But then, Sasuke suspected that even Iruka had figured out that pairing him up with a girl would be more trouble than it was worth the first year, when he'd had the bad luck to be stuck with some lovestruck idiot who ended up getting bullied by the rest of their female classmates.

"Sasuke," Iruka called out, peering down at his roster, "you can be…well, Hinata's partner."

Correction: Iruka was clearly dumber than Sasuke gave him credit for.

Slouching in his seat with unhidden annoyance and blocking out the wide whines of protest from the rest of the girls in the class, Sasuke heard an almost imperceptible sigh come from the desk on his far left.

Oh. So _that_ was Hinata. That quiet mouse of a Hyuuga who couldn't kill a fly, much less carry out any Class-C mission. Well, she didn't seem like the noisy type of fangirl, so he supposed she'd _do_, but—

"Don't worry, Hinata," whispered a surprisingly non-jealous Ino, patting the disheartened girl comfortingly on the shoulder. "I'm sure you'll get Naruto for a partner next year."

Wait, _Naruto_? This Hinata'd wanted the _dobe_ for a partner of all people? Over _him_?

Sasuke blinked for a few seconds then recovered from the slight shock and wound to his pride. A Hyuuga girl who most definitely wasn't a fan of his. Pointless as a partner, but acceptable. A better than worst case scenario, at least. And it _was_ after all, only for a week.

--

"Since I've just assigned everybody their partner, your next lesson will be to work together on a medical-type assignment. Although I doubt the majority of you will ever receive any medical-nin training, there are basic things all ninjas need to know in the ninja world—such as, for example, how to make a simple wound-sealing ointment. If I could just get a volunteer to pass out the materials— "

"I'll do it, sensei!" Sakura chirped, carefully practiced smile on her face.

"Ah, thank you, then. Well, I'll write down the basic instructions for the ointment here on the chalkboard. I should warn you all, however, that if you follow them exactly, you'll only get a mediocre ointment at best."

"Aww, but that's unfair, Iruka-sensei! How are we supposed to learn how to do it well, then?" Ino complained.

"In the real world, making or perfecting an ointment also requires experimentation. If you want to perfect even this basic ointment, you'll have to go through the same process," Iruka explained.

How pointless, Sasuke thought silently, looking down at the unfamiliar leaves and extracts with unease. Medical-type assignments weren't his forte to begin with, and with the instructions skewed against his favor he doubted he could get it right for both him _and _his rather useless partner—

—even if said partner was currently busily at work mashing and mixing the ingredients as if she'd been doing so all her life.

--

"What are you doing?" Sasuke hissed rather angrily.

"M-mixing the v-valerian root with the yarrow," Hinata replied nervously.

"Those aren't the amounts Iruka put on the board," Sasuke scowled.

"N-no," Hinata agreed, "but t-this way t-the valerian r-root's medicinal attributes a-are highlighted."

"Oh."

Hinata paused for a moment, then, convinced Sasuke was done asking questions, resumed her work. After a few minutes, Sasuke cleared his throat, uneased by the silence and unsure of what to do.

"Iruka-sensei!" Ino protested halfway across the room loudly, "Naruto's not _doing_ anything!"

"Not again! Naruto, you have to do your share of the work. That's the entire _point_ of working in partners," Iruka scolded exasperatedly.

"Ne, sensei, Sasuke's not doing any of the work _either_. He's just letting Hinata do all of his work too, so what's wrong with me doing it?" Naruto complained.

Dozens of eyes turned to stare at both Sasuke and Hinata. "Hinata, is that true?" Iruka asked.

"A-a-ah, n-n-no. N-not at all," Hinata stammered out.

"Then why has Sasuke just been sitting there for awhile?" Naruto asked curiously.

"He's been supervising me," Hinata said quickly, looking down at her desk. "W-we're experimenting with the r-ratios like Iruka-sensei told us to, a-and Sasuke's t-taking note of the ratios."

"I see. Naruto, just concentrate on your own ointment. And yes, Ino, I give you permission to hit him when—I mean _if_ he doesn't," Iruka groaned, rubbing his temples tiredly.

Apparently, Hinata could lie well if she felt like it. Sasuke stored the information away for future reference. Although, granted, the fact that he even _needed _his partner to cover for him was humiliating. With a scowl, Sasuke slouched even further down into his seat.

--

"U-um…Sasuke?" Hinata asked, not returning to working on the ointment for some reason.

"_Yes_?"

"C-c-could you please make the fourth part of the mixture?"

"I don't know _how_ to, remember? Besides, the instructions on the board are wrong, right?"

"A-actually, Iruka-sensei was k-kind enough to make that p-part a-accurate. I-I'm not very good at that p-part, so…"

"You want me to do it?" Sasuke offered with slight relief.

"Y-yes," Hinata nodded. "S-since y-you're a lot better at that sort of thing." She held out the container quietly, and although Sasuke knew she could lie well if she felt like it, he had the feeling she'd been saving this last part _for_ him. Fingers brushing (the desks were rather cramped, after all), Sasuke took the container. Huh. Funny how physical contact with Hinata had none of the sickening feeling he associated with his female classmates. Probably came from the fact that Hinata wasn't a fangirl.

Wordlessly, Sasuke picked up the other ingredients necessary and started working.

"Hey," he said after a few moments of silence, "pass me that container over there, will you?"

"Ah," Hinata agreed, handing him the container, nervousness (nearly) gone.

--

Their ointment had turned out the best hands down of course. Iruka had congratulated them on a job exceptionally done, yadda yadda. And although Sasuke was used to that type of attention, he had to admit, it was somewhat nice to see Hinata's reaction to it.

--

If he'd stopped and thought about it, Uchiha Sasuke might have realized that he had (willingly) worked with a partner (a _female_ partner, even) and maybe even enjoyed it. If he'd stopped to think about it, he might have realized that he'd enjoyed even a pointless day spent on a pointless assignment, all because of his pointless partner—but then again, if he'd stopped and thought about it, he might have realized that he didn't particularly dislike Hyuuga Hinata's shyness and random acts of kindness.

Of course, he didn't stop and think about it. Such a thing, after all, would be pointless.

* * *

Author's Note: …er. Yeah.

Btw, anybody who actually knows how to make an ointment will be aware that I sped up/completely skewed up the process. (Since, apparently, it takes about two weeks to make 'em.) And yes, the flower/herb names _were_ placed in randomly. Oh, and I apologize for the boring-ness of this chapter. It'll pick up soon, I promise. ;)

On a different note, I was displeased to find the supermarkets already stocked with piles and piles of V-day stuff the day right after Christmas. The last thing my cousins need is a prolonging of mass cavity-inducing candy sales.

As always, any reviews are appreciated.


	2. Day Two

Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who reviewed and let me know the first chapter wasn't too boring. :) I apologize to **Esteriana** if I end up writing a cliché or two (I chalk it up to an evil-but-not-so-creative imagination and pretty lame writing skills. D:)

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke was not a very patient being.

Sure, he could handle sitting stealthily for a long while better than most of his peers and could stand listening incessant chatter for hours until said chatterbox grew quiet if necessary (heck, he even managed to put up with Sakura, Ino, _and_ Naruto's love-confessions-subsequent-catfights-or-idiotically-pointless-challenges on a daily basis.) It wasn't the waiting part of patience that Sasuke had a problem with.

Patience, he had been taught by his mother early on in his childhood, was a virtue. Patience, he had heard from his father, was one of a ninja's greatest assets.

Patience, he had learned from his older brother before he went on a psychotic killing rampage, was for idiots who could stand by and quietly accept other idiots' idiocy.

And so it was the having-to-tolerate-other-people-acting-like-morons part of patience that Sasuke really couldn't stand. Consequently, he refused to suffer through any of his classmates' stupidity patiently. _Especially_ on Valentine's Day. If he had to put up with girls' company and attention on Valentine's Day, he would snap. So there was really only one solution: playing hooky. After all, it was getting to be a yearly tradition, what with him having skipped school on February the 14th for five years in a row now. In exchange for successfully avoiding his female classmates on the worst day of the year _ever_ (except maybe White Day), Sasuke only had to show up to school the next day and fake a cough or two. Although he was pretty sure Iruka suspected something was up, Sasuke trusted the teacher realized that, without him being there to bombard with chocolates, the girls could actually concentrate on schoolwork.

As for him? Well, if he was going to skip school, he might as well do something productive that went towards improving himself as a ninja/Avenger, which is how he ended up training outside his compound for five straight hours.

Which is also how, consequently, he answered the door coughing, red-faced, and the epitome of sickly-looking when Hinata came to visit.

"What are you doing here?" he asked unpleasantly.

"A-ah…Iruka-sensei said that w-we covered a-an important jutsu today," Hinata explained uncomfortably. "H-he s-said we won't be reviewing it either, s-so I should hand y-you th-the scroll for it so you could practice on y-your own."

Stupid Iruka. "Oh. What's the bag for?" Sasuke asked tonelessly, staring down at the large, stuffed bag Hinata was carrying with her.

"He also said I should see if you were really sick," Hinata admitted, "and make sure to take care of you if you were."

"Why you?" he asked bluntly.

"H-h-he said he th-thought you were going to be absent again this year, so he made sure to give you a partner that could check on you."

Stupid sneaky Iruka. "…and?" Sasuke scowled.

"And since I-I don't like you—well, I m-mean, _like_ you—he said he t-trusted me not to c-cover for you. A-and i-if you w-were sick, I could take care of you," Hinata said embarrassedly, looking down at her feet.

"…so what if I'm making it up?"

"H-h-he said h-he'd h-have to b-bring it up with the H-hokage…"

Stupid sneaky overdramatic Iruka. It wasn't as if he played hooky _all the time_. Just the first day of school…and April Fool's Day…and Valentine's Day and White Day and his birthday…and Uchiha month…still. Stupid sneaky overdramatic Iruka.

"A-although I-I think you should sit down," Hinata said quietly. "s-since you seem a little sh-short of breath."

"That's right," Sasuke said sharply, "I'm sick." Although under normal circumstances, he would never allow any of his classmates—even a not-so-annoying one—enter his compound, knowing Iruka (stupid sneaky overdramatic Iruka), he really _would_ take his refusal for help as a sign he was playing hooky. And while he wasn't particularly afraid of Iruka—_or_ the Hokage—he sure as heck didn't have the patience to put up with whatever guardian or shared housing they would assign him if they thought he "needed it."

And if that meant that he had to put up with Hyuuga Hinata while pretending to be sick—well, he would.

--

"I don't listen to radio," he said stiffly, seeing Hinata pull out a small portable radio.

"A-ah, r-really? I th-thought you might b-be bored, laying in bed all day," Hinata explained disappointedly.

"Fine. Leave it, then."

Although Sasuke was 100% non-sick (and even if he _was_, he doubted he'd appreciate a radio anyway), he didn't have the patience to waste time arguing with Hinata. At some point she'd empty out that (extremely large) bag she was carrying, exhaust her resources, and then leave.

Takng a deep breath, Sasuke coughed absentmindedly, completely missing the small frown on Hinata's face.

--

"Maybe you should lay down," Hinata suggested worriedly the 34th time Sasuke coughed.

"…"

"A-a-are you hungry? I b-brought food just in case, so I c-can make you s-soup if you wan—"

"No. You might want to leave. Since it might be contagious," Sasuke hinted carefully.

"I-It's alright," Hinata said quietly but firmly, "I don't mind."

"Because we're partners?" Sasuke asked dryly.

"M-maybe," Hinata replied. "B-but…it's mostly b-because I l-like being useful. I-I wanted to be a m-medical-nin when I w-was little…th-this is really the closest I'll get."

Oh. Somehow, knowing she was helping him out of her own agenda rather than some misguided sense of sickeningly sweet moral good made her seem less dislikeable.

A little less, anyway. Sasuke paused to think about it then coughed loudly for the 35th time.

"Maybe you should lay down," Hinata repeated.

--

It might have been the five hours spent on nonstop intense training, but by the time Sasuke got to the bed, he collapsed with a tiredness that was completely genuine.

"A-ano," Hinata spoke softly, breaking the silence awkwardly, "is th-there anything else I can do?"

"No," Sasuke replied bluntly, half-grateful that if she was going to be annoying, at least she was quiet about it.

"A-ah…I see," Hinata said, clutching her large bag (which, after pulling out the radio, fresh food to store in his refrigerator, and the homework scrolls, was still ridiculously huge), having refused to let it go throughout the entire visit.

"I-If you don't mind," Hinata squeaked after a second, "I-I…that is…d-do you want to hear a fairy tale?"

"Huh?"

"M-m-my mother u-used to tell me fairy tales w-when I was sick. B-b-because she said it h-helped chase the fever away."

Sasuke paused to consider the outlandish idea. "…and then you'll go?"

Hinata nodded earnestly. "I-i-it'd make me feel better leaving y-you alone if y-you're asleep and r-resting," she admitted.

"Fine," Sasuke agreed, a slight scowl on his face at the thought of having to listen to a fairy tale. "Go ahead."

Hinata smiled and cleared her voice, while Sasuke was already squirming with boredom. He didn't really _know_ her, of course, but he knew enough about predictable Hinata to know that her favorite fairy tales probably revolved around a golden-haired knight in shining armor (and although Naruto's hair was only a messy shade of blonde, he supposed that the ugly orange jumpsuit he always wore _did_ stand out. Perhaps Hinata thought blazing-lack-of-color-coordination-and-blindingly-bright-colors equaled shining armor?) and a timid but still pure princess. But he still found himself agreeing to the fairy tale, because it's _classroom duty_ after all, and it could be considerably worse, so he thanked Iruka-sensei somewhere in the back of his head that it's at least his quiet partner and not someone else that's visiting him.

Hinata starts the story and it's nothing like what he thought—it's something about how a ninja from a covert clan wants to develop a jutsu and ends up giving up everything in his life only to get it despite his fairy's sad protests; the story ends happily, though, although he can't remember exactly how because Hinata has a surprisingly lulling voice and he's tired as heck, and—

"Sasuke?" Hinata asked, pausing the story.

"Ahh?" he answered almost groggily.

"…y-you're not really sick, are you?"

_That_ woke him up like a flash. "What are you talking about?" he said stiffly.

"Y-you haven't c-co-coughed a single time and your organs don't seem to have any tension or s-s-tress on them either," Hinata replied calmly.

"Oh."

"I-It's alright," Hinata said quietly, "I won't tell. Y-you really did cough…a-and I really did my b-best to take care of y-you…so I can tell that to Iruka-sensei, right?"

Oh. So that was why she'd wasted her time taking care of him so thoroughly, to be able to lie to Iruka with a straight face.

"A-ah, b-but…p-please do me a favor," Hinata added pleadingly.

"What?" Sasuke asked.

"U-um…actually…please take this," Hinata said, pushing her large bag towards Sasuke.

The large bag was full of chocolates of every kind, shape, and color.

"T-they told me to g-give it to you," Hinata admitted. "—and to m-make sure you eat it, so…please eat at least one."

Normally, Sasuke had no patience to fulfill a random stranger's request—especially a girl's.

For Hinata, however, he figured he'd make a one-time exception. (At least because with this out of the way, she really _would_ go home this time.) Chewing on the sickening chocolates with a frown, he escorted Hinata out and relaxed, once again in the pleasantness of solitude in his own house.

--

But he had to admit, even if he didn't have the patience to put up with girls (much less on February the 14th)—if he had to put up with a girl's company and attention on Valentine's Day, spending it with Hyuuga Hinata…wasn't too bad.

He, however, had no patience to put up with her on a daily basis. (Definitely not.) But as for a partner—even for Valentine's—she was okay, he decided with a small smile.

* * *

Author's Note: Yeah. I realize it was a while since I updated, but…yeah. I have the plot vaguely in my mind now, so it'll probably go quicker next chapter.

Thanks to **sanriochica333, DarkennedFlower, BookWorm, **and** Murasaki Shikibu** for their reviews. Sorry I didn't reply to you…but by the time I'd rechecked my inbox, I'd already written Chap 2, so I figured thanking you this way was easier. ;)

Because I really don't like writing cliffhangers, I really didn't leave much of a preview for the next chapter so here it is: Sasuke's eating chocolate will have serious consequences later on. XD

Reviews as always, are appreciated. :)


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